Bailey WAS sick…

So, since I was MIA for a while, let me fill in SOME of the blanks. In case you haven’t figured it out, I am a big dog lover and my two dogs are like my children. My 11 year old yellow labrador retriever, Bailey was taken to the vet on St. Patrick’s Day for a checkup and to get more medication for her “aging” bones. She was having trouble getting up and walking around, very common with older labs. Upon my surprise, the vet found a big bump when examining her, we took Xrays and saw that it was a very BIG mass, pushing all of her organs on the side and pushing up on her spine. He said the only thing I could do was attempt surgery and try to remove it, but know that it’s very risky and I may have to put her to sleep if the operation wasn’t successful. If I didn’t operate, her organs would explode and she will bleed to death, painfully. WHAT??? I was so upset, my world flipped upside down and was rocked in a bad way, very unexpectedly. I knew what I had to do, but I was so scared of losing her. She is my baby and I wasn’t ready to let her go.

She went in for emergency surgery on 3/19/09 at 12:30pm. I dropped her off at 11:00am and was a nervous wreck. It was a major surgery that would last hours and I could barely function. I talked to the vet at 4:00, right out of surgery and he said the mass was 11 pounds, like a bowling ball. He removed it but we had to see if she would recover from the surgery, since she lost most of her blood. He had to send it in to find out if it was cancerous or not, that would take 5 days. YIKES, more stress and anxiety. I prayed that she would be a hero and pull it off. I was there in that kennel right when she woke up from the anesthesia. I think the vets thought I was a little overboard, which is why they let me stay with her, even after they closed for the day. I brought her home Saturday 3/21/09. She was very weak and could barely walk. I feed her tofu, cabbage and liver to get her blood count back up. The next week was a little tough and I waited anxiously about the cancer diagnosis. On Friday 3/27/09, I found out she was cancer free! Now, it was just getting her back up and running like a champ. Her stitches came off 3/31/09 and she really started to feel better. I was so happy because I knew she was going to be a rock star again. Not only is she fully recovered, she is getting up, running and walking like a puppy. So, no more meds for those “aging” bones. I just got years back for my baby girl. My prayers were answered!

Here are some pics I took of her in the “recovery cage” after surgery. These are taken with my iPhone, so there’s only so much I could do.

Look at how sad she looks in there. This is right after she woke up from the anesthesia…

I was so sad to see her all bandaged up and her IV. I brought her favorite sheep for her to snuggle up to.

And, here she is today, 4/18/09, 1 month out of surgery. I took these pictures of us just for fun and to show everyone how great she is doing. I shot these as best as I could, but it makes me so happy to know my baby will be around for years to come!

Yes, we are all smiles now!

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